Bid to rebuild Warrnambool Special Developmental School

CALLS to rebuild Warrnambool’s only school for students with disabilities will be taken to the state election.

Warrnambool Special Developmental School is pitching its case to Labor and the government to replace the ageing facility which is bursting at the seams.

School council president and former Moyne Shire mayor Ken Gale said the school would use the election year to try and gain a promise from either side of the political divide.

They’ve asked to meet Education Minister Martin Dixon and his opposition counterpart James Merlino as well as Labor upper house MP Gayle Tierney. “We want it (a new school) included in their forward estimates for the next three years,” Mr Gale said. “It’s going to be absolutely full with nowhere to go ... there’s no more space for buildings.”

In February, principal Robert Dowell said rising enrolments since the late 1990s had led to “extreme overcrowding”.

The school, located on Hyland Street, was initially built for only 30 students. More than 100 are now enrolled with more expected next year.

Mr Gale said a meeting was held with South West Coast MP, Premier Denis Napthine, earlier in the year but was yet to hear back from the Coalition.